Story Reader / Main Story / 17 The Surviving Lucem / Story
We did it... The last target is eliminated!
Please wake up, Liv! Why did you do something so dangerous?!
...Let her rest. After this... there is nothing left to fight.
How can you be so cruel?!
Cruel? Who's cruel here? There's nothing left in this world for her, is there?
How much longer do you want her to suffer the M.I.N.D. migraines and the death mirages?
Capt...
...Perhaps we should be glad that even Constructs can welcome death...
The sound of people crying slowly dissipates, and Liv walks onward toward the direction of the past.
At the end of the road, the world turns into an ocean of flowers.
Liv touches the wound on her chest, only to find it turns into a rose, scattering into the wind.
Liv...!
Hearing a familiar voice, Liv turns around and looks.
Even with a badly damaged frame, Liv still recognizes Lucia.
How come you're also...
With a wry smile, Lucia shakes her head and pulls the young man standing nearby toward her.
Oh, is that Lee?
Unlike how Liv remembers him, the man before her is a black silhouette, like a cutout in three-dimensional space.
Is it because Lee's path has led somewhere beyond what Liv knows?
Why are you...
...It's a specialized frame, isn't it?
Lee does not answer her.
Let's go. You don't have to worry about anything anymore. Commandant is waiting.
...Commandant?
Look, right there.
Looking at where Lucia is pointing, Liv sees a human standing in the middle of a flower, nodding and smiling at Liv.
...Commandant!
Oh, [player name] looks so much older than she remembers.
It's been a while.
Hearing that voice, all the walls Liv puts up around her crumble into nothingness.
What is this place?
Are they momentary mirages, or are they the consciousnesses and data that remain after death?
It does not matter anymore. The companions Liv has missed so dearly are now with her.
...Have you been waiting here for long?
The commandant nods, still smiling, and Liv finds the pain her body has been feeling slowly melting away.
This time, no one can separate the four of us.
What the hell happened to you... There's a hole in your chest.
The familiar Professor looks at Liv with a kind of frustration.
I... don't exactly remember.
Probably went to protect some jerk, I bet.
You always do that, putting yourself in harm's way.
As if treating a patient, the Professor holds onto Liv's shoulders, her fingers inspecting Liv's wounds.
Incredibly, Liv does not feel pain.
You've suffered all this time... Liv... I'm sorry.
...All this time?
Right, the M.I.N.D. migraines from your specialized frame never stopped. It's as painful as arthritis or bone fractures, but it's localized in your head.
Plus, the death mirages from that memory data... It must have been tormenting to live.
...Death mirages?
I pleaded with them to let you go gently and quietly before it got worse.
Every one of them was riled up.
Although we managed to solve that problem by enhancing the Deep M.I.N.D. connection, a human can only live so long...
The Professor points at [player name], her brows furrowed.
After your commandant was dead, the migraines and the mirages returned.
And... they wouldn't go away even when you changed into a new frame.
I wish I could make them feel it once more, especially your commandant.
If you think that's necessary.
Hmph. You won't feel pain here anyway.
Feel... what once more?
Liv...
With a wave of the hand, the commandant takes out a paper flower like doing magic.
Now, it's our shared memory.
Taking the flower, Liv finds her memories rushing out like a flood. Standing in the "present," Liv can see what her future<//MEMORY> holds.
...I remember how this will happen.
Memories, as well as pain and the crimson mirages, return to her body.
She recalls the time when she placed the Queen of the Night by the commandant's bed.
...Commandant came for us.
The twins reached the church the moment the transport craft pierced the dark clouds.
She survived that battle... at the cost of her companions and the commandant being badly hurt.
But it was mere survival.
She could hear the Professor and the commandant arguing as she went in and out of unconsciousness after they returned to Babylonia.
Even if you let her live, the M.I.N.D. migraines and the death mirages will be there all her life.
At least let her wake up, so we could hear her make the choice!
You know how Liv is. She would do anything you ask if you just beg a little, even at her own expense.
Words are meaningless. I'd rather have you feel the M.I.N.D. migraine so you'd know!
...Fine. If that could change your mind.
Like this? When you can barely stand?
Yes.
...Alright then!
What... happened after that?
Liv seemed to have had a long and wonderful dream afterward. In the dream, she discovered herself and what she was after.
But every dream ends. When she woke up from immense pain, Liv became Gray Raven's...
...Burden.
Even after Liv returned to her Eclipse frame, the M.I.N.D. migraines and death mirages followed her. The afterimages affected Liv still, making it difficult for her to participate in normal fights.
After the technology on the Deep M.I.N.D. connection got refined, Liv volunteered to participate in a difficult and long rehabilitation to get used to these effects.
Separated by a sheet of glass, Liv and the commandant, who also required rehabilitation, smiled wryly at each other in their own training rooms.
Not even a day of rest.
There's always a next fight. Even when we find a way to eliminate the Punishing Virus, there will still be other troubles.
Years passed by and Cosette had grown up, learning about her mother's wish after talking to Liv, and she ended up as a remarkable Support-type Construct, working hard to save the wounded.
Both Cosette and Gray Raven had found new friends and lost old ones on the way.
Together, they tackled many problems of the past and discovered new obstacles.
As Lee said—there was always a next fight.
Gestalt predicted that there was a 0.031% chance that they could find a miracle. They could not, and humanity was forced into a new calamity.
The world has always been this way. The Punishing Virus was not the first virus that led to a catastrophic outbreak.
We solve one problem, and the next one will arise. Once we found a way to eliminate the Punishing Virus, a new disaster soon followed.
Like the sun and the moon, taking each other's place. There are no endless days, nor are there eternal nights.
But we have not stood still, and the battles we fought didn't lose their meaning. Our respites went from days to seasons to years—they were all progressing...
Most importantly, you all were there with me. It made the journey easier.
Just like that, the commandant left during the decades-long winter.
After that, Lucia sacrificed herself in a fight for that almost impossible goal.
And then it was Lee.
The scars on their bodies connect into trenches, building safe passages amid bullets and rain.
Their souls were fuel to light the torch of life, burning to melt the snow of the formidable winter.
When spring arrived, Liv also fell onto the last bit of snow.
Do you want to meet the others?
Yes.
Let's go. They're on the other side of the flowers.
Standing by each other, they begin a new journey<//FANTASY>.
What is all this? A fantasy before death? A gathering of M.I.N.D. shards?
No one knows what this dream built by the Ascension-Network is made of.
But this heartwarming scene also foretells the future where the eternal winter takes her companions one after another.
After [player name] was gone, the severe migraines and the death mirages once again filled Liv's journey with obstacles.
Spending the rest of her time in tortuous pain, Liv would not return to her friends until the last drop of snow melted away.
...
...This is surely not the past you were hoping for.
But I felt warm.
Once again, in a brief moment of daze, Liv hears that voice again.
If you have your answer...
I hope you would not regret this decision.
